Musikang Latin sa Simbahan sa Pilipinas Kailan Sisimulan?

Musikang latin sa Pilipinas Kailan sisimulan? kung ating matatandaan nagpahiwatig ang Santo Papa Benedicto Ika-labing anim na simulan na imulat ang mananampalataya sa mga himig at awitin na latin. Marami sa atin ang hindi kayang intindihin ang ang latin na salita pero, kung atin itong pag-aaralan, mas lalo natin itong maiibigan at maiintindihan, noong ako ay nagpunta sa isang kapistahan sa isang bayan sa Bicol ay ako ay nagulat na mulat at bukas na ang diwa sa ng mananampalataya sa awting latin lalo na nang kanilang awitin ng buong puso ang awiting "Kyrie" at "Credo" sabi ko, buti pa ang bayang ito mulat na mulat na ang diwa at puso ng tao sa awiting latin. malaki ang aking paghanga sa mga paring bikolano na buong puso na nagpalaganap sa mga awiting latin sa kanilang bayan! alam ko rin na hindi madali na imulat ang mata ng tao sa mga awiting latin siyempre maraming batikos, at kontra sa mga bagay na ito. pero masasabi ko na isa itong limot na tradisiyon. na ngayon ay unti-unti na binubuhay ng mga pari na may malaking pag-ibig sa awiting latin. Sa mga karatig bayan kaya sa Pilipinas kailan kaya? Sa Maynila, may mga simbahan na nag-uumpisa na simulan ang mga awiting latin at mga extra tradisyonal na latin na misa o" Extra traditional Latin Mass" o "Tridentine Mass" sa isang parokya sa Alabang sila ay nag mimisa ng latin o "Tridentine Mass" at napansin ko na maraming nagsisimba, maski hindi nila naiintindihan kung ano ang dinadasal ng pari na nagmimisa gayundin sa sikatuna village, araw -araw tuwing ika-3 ng hapon sa sa paggunita ng pagkamatay ni Kristo sa Krus, ito rin ang Divine mercy Hour.

Sana, ang aking panalangin ay simulan na imulat ng mga taga-pagpalaganap ang musika, himig at awiting latin sa mananampalataya, hindi lamang ang mga tagapagpalaganap ang may obligaysyon tayo rin ay may obligasyon na ipalaganap ito.

Kung hindi natin sisimulan ngayon kelan pa?

OFFICE OF THE DEAD

Evening Prayer I

(November 1)

L:God Come to my assistance,

P: O Lord make haste to help me

Glory....

Hymn:

All: May flights of angels lead you on your way to paradise,

And heaven’s eternal eternal day! May martyrs greet you after

Death’s dark night and bid you enter into Zion’s light

May choirs of angels sing you to your rest with once poor

Laz’rus, now forever blest

Or

Leader: I an the bread of light, he who comes to me shall not

hunger, he who shall believe in me shall not thirst.

No one can come to me unless the father draw him

Refrain:

And I will raise him up,

And I will raise him up

And I will raise him up on the last day

Refrain

Leader: yes, Lord I Believe that you are the Christ

The son of God

The son of god who came into the world

All: Refrain

Leader: I am the way and the truth; I am the life.

No one comes to the Father,

Except he come through me, except he come to me

PSALMODY

Leader: Ant. 1 The lord will keep you from evil. He will guard

your soul

Psalm 121

Leader: I lift up my eyes to the mountains:

From where shall come to my help

My help shall come from the Lord

Who made the heaven and the earth

All: May he never allow me to stumble!

Let him sleep not, your guards

No, he sleeps not nor slumbers

Israel’s guard.

Leader: The Lord is your guard and your shade;

At your right hand he stands:

By day the sun shall not smite you nor

The moon in the night

All: The lord will guard you from evil, He will guard you soul.

The lord will guard your going and coming

Both now and forever.

Leader: Glory be to the father to the son to the holy spirit

All: As it was in the beginning now and will be forever

Amen

All: Ant. 1: The lord will keep you from evil. He will guard your soul

Leader: Ant. 2 If you kept a record of our sins, Lord, who could escape condemnation?

PSALM 130

Leader: Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord,

Lord hear my voice!

O let your ears be attentive

To the voice of my pleading

All: If you O Lord, should mark our guilt,

Lord who would survive?

But with you is found forgiveness:

For this we revere you.

Leader: My soul is waiting for the Lord,

I count on his word.

My soul is longing for the lord

More than the watchman for daybreak

And Israel on the Lord

All: Because With the lord there is mercy

And fullness of redemption

Israel indeed he will redeem

From all its iniquity.

Leader: Glory to the Father to the Son to the Holy Spirit

All: As it was in the beginning is now and will be forever

Amen.

All: Ant. 2 If you kept a record of our sins who could escape condemnation?

Leader: As the father raises the dead and gives them life, so the son gives life to whom he wills.

Canticle Philippians 2:6-11

Leader: Though he was in a form of God,

Jesus did not deem equality with God

Something to be grasped at

All: Rather, he emptied himself

And took a form of a slave

Being born in the likeness of men.

Leader: He was known to be of human estate,

And it was thus that he humbled himself,

Obediently accepting even death, Death on a cross!

All: Because this,

God greatly exalted him

And bestowed on him the name

Above every other name

Leader: So that at Jesus’ name

Every knee must bend

In the heavens, on the earth,

And under the earth

All: and every tongue proclaim

To the glory of God the Father:

JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!

READING: 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

Reader: A Reading from the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians

O death where is your victory? O death where is your sting? But thanks to God who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The word of the Lord.

ALL: Thanks be to God!

Responsory

Leader: In you, Lord is our hope. We shall never hope in vain

ALL: -in you Lord is our hope we shall never hope in vain

Leader: We shall never dance and rejoice in your mercy

ALL: - we shall never hope in vain

Leader: Glory to the Father, to the Son, to the Holy Spirit

-in you, Lord is our hope. We shall never hope in vain

OR

Leader: Lord in your steadfast love give them eternal rest

ALL: Lord in your steadfast love give them eternal rest

Leader: You will judge the living and the dead

All : -Give them eternal rest

Leader: Glory to the Father, to the Son to the Holy Spirit

All: - in your steadfast love give them eternal rest

Canticle of Mary

Leader: Ant. All that the father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I shall not turn away

MAGNIFICAT

Leader: + My soul proclaims the goodness of the Lord,

My spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked

With favor on lowly servant all generation will call me

Blessed: the almighty has done great things for me

Holy is his name

All: He has mercy on those who fear him in every

Generation

Leader: He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and

He has lifted up the lowly

All: He has filled the hungry with good things, the rich

He sent away empty

Leader: He has come to the help of his servant Israel

For he has remembered his promise of mercy,

The promise he made to our fathers

To Abraham and to his children forever

All: Glory to the Father, to the Son, to the Holy Spirit

All: As it was in the beginning is now and will be forever

Amen

Intercessions

Leader: We acknowledge Christ the Lord through whom we hope

That our lowly bodies will be made like in his in glory,

And we say

Lord you are our life and resurrection

Leader: Christ Son of the living God, who raised up Lazarus,

Your friend from the dead

All: - raise up to life and glory of the dead whom you redeem

Precious blood

Leader: Christ consoler of those who mourn, you dried the

Tears of the family of Lazarus, of the widow’s son

And the daughter of Jairus,

All: comfort who mourn for the dead

Leader: Christ our savior, destroy the reign of sin in our earthly

Bodies, so that just as trough sin we deserve

Punishment

All : -so through you we may gain eternal life

Leader: Christ Redeemer, look on those who have no hope

Because they do not know you

All -may they receive faith in the resurrection and in the life to

Come

Leader: You reveled yourself to the blind man who begged for

The light of his eyes

All: -show you face to the dead who are deprived of your light

Leader: When at last our earthly home is dissolved

All: -give us a home, not earthly making but built of eternity in

Heaven

Our Father…….

Prayer

Leader: Let us pray

Lord hear our prayers.

By raising your Son from the dead, you have given

Us faith. Strengthen our hope that N., our brother

(sister) will share in his resurrection

We ask this through our lord and savior Jesus Christ

Who lives and reigns with the Holy Spirit one God

Forever and ever.

All: AMEN

OR

Leader: let us pray

Lord God,

You are the glory of the believers

And the life of the just your son redeemed us by dying

And rising to life again. Our brother (sister) N. was

Faithful and believe in our own resurrection give to

Him (her) the joys and blessings of the life to come

We ask this through our lord Jesus Christ who lives

And reign with you and the holy spirit one God forever

And ever.

All: AMEN

Prayer to our lady of the Most Holy Rosary La Naval de Manila In case of disaster Calamity or war

Prayer to Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary La Naval de Manila in
case of Disaster, Calamity or War
(to be paryed after the Holy Rosary)

O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary la Naval de Manila, we come to you in great need as your Filipino people faces the trial of the recent disaster. We ask for your guidance and help.

O Dearest Queen, we ask you to help us to rise again after this calamity that we encountered, by the means of praying the rosary, that we believe that will save us from all danger and that you have promised to us.

like during the battle at Lepanto as they pray the holy rosary and invoked your powerful intercession, you helped them to won the battle, help us also to win the battle of the recent calamity of your nation. And we know that you will never abandoned us dear mother of the Philippines!

O mother and Queen of our Nation Do not abandoned us during this disaster!

O Loving Jesus, as your mother hold you in her loving arms, we recommend to you those who are severely affected of the recent disaster, the victims. We lift up to you those who have died bring them to the eternal paradise that you have promised us.


O lover of our souls, we also lift up to you those who are helping the victims grant them and shower them with your abundant garces and hear their prayers.


We ask this, though the powerful intercession of our lady of the Most Holy Rosary La Naval De Manila and His son Jesus our Lord AMEN

L: Queen of the Most Holy Rosary La Naval de Manila,
R: Help us and intercede for us

L: Our lady of the Most Holy Rosary La Naval de Manila,
R: Pray for us!

How many Pinoys do you know?

Aside from Manny Pacquiao who made a name for the Philippines in Boxing, there were also three Pinay Mt. Everest climbers who made a name recently as the first Southeast Asian Women to climb the tallest peak of the world namely Noelle Wenceslao, Carina Dayondon and Janet Belarmino. Filipinos are already making waves here and abroad, the long list includes: Leah Salonga, Jasmine Trias, Allan Pineda of Black Eyed Peas, Irene Mora, the first Filipina NASA astronaut, Cecilia Pagkalinawan, the founding president and CEO of Boutique Y3K, Monique Luillhier, Nicole Scherzinger and Asia Nitollano of the Pussy Cat Dolls, Billy Joe Crawford, Tia Carere, Lou Diamond Philips, Rob Schneider, Army Maj. Gen. Edward Soriano and Army Brig. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba of the US Military Armed Forces, Benny Agbayani of the New York Mets, Veronica Pedrosa of CNN News, Phoebe Cates, Enrique Inglesias, Efren “Bata” Reyes, Batista, Natalie Coughlin who is an Olympic swimmer and Gold Medalist and a endless litany of famous Filipinos.

Of course these Pinoys are still living and are currently performing their own thing for the Glory of our Country. But have you ever thought of Filipinos, aside from the lists above, who are currently living beyond this earth and performing for eternity for the Greater Glory of God?

Well after digging deeper today in the Vatican archives and several Hagiography circle websites, I found an amazing find. Aside from the many foreign saints who stepped in our Land namely San Pedro Bautista, St. Francis Xavier, Mother Eugenia of the Assumption, San Ezekiel Moreno, and soon John Paull II and Blessed Antonio Barona of the UST Dominicans (who became the NCAA head from 1932-1933 and will be beatified this October 28 of 2007 in Rome), A handful of Pinoy saints were already canonized and some are waiting to be elevated to the sainthood. Read on and discover the rich heritage of Filipino Saints.

Canonized and Beatified

1. Lorenzo Ruiz

Lorenzo was born of a Chinese father and a Tagalog mother in Binondo between 1600 to 1610. He was a catechist of the Dominican friars and was soon sent with other Dominican missionaries in Japan. In July 10 1636 they were captured by the Emperorâ??s army in Nagasaki and was subjected to many horrible tortures like hanging them upside down in a well full of garbage, bloating their bodies with water only to press them with wood until they come out of their noses and ears, and putting needles under their nails and strumming them as if they were guitars strings. On February 1981 he was beatified by Pope John Paul II at the Rizal National Park. Seven Years later, he was proclaimed as the First Filipino Saint and Martyr in Rome.

2. Pedro Calungsod

A young catechist who was taught by the Spanish Jesuit Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores at a young age of 13 in the Visayas Islands. He was with the priest and several other young men when they went to Guam to teach Catechism. During that time, Western and Eastern Samar including the Marianas Islands are part of the Jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Cebu. In this mission, Pedro Calungsod suffered Martyrdom while defending The Jesuit from the attack of two Natives who shot him in the chest with darts and a spear and then splitting his skull with a Machete. The Jesuit Priest died in the same way as Calungsod and their bodies were tied together in a pole and was thrown into the sea. Thus in 1672 at the age of 18, Calungsod was martyred for the faith. On March 5, 2000, Pope John Paul II beatified the first Filipino Youth and Visayan Saint, a month before he finally rested in Peace with the saints.

Pending Causes for Beatification

3. Filipino Youth Martyrs

Aside from Pedro Calungsod, there were also his companions, a handful of Filipino young men who were unnamed in the expedition and suffered the same fate as them. The Jesuit priests, Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores, starting a new mission in Guam, had taken 17 Filipinos, many of them teen-aged boys, as catechists, sacristans, bearers of mass-kits and provision-bags on mission journeys. The young men had been, in today’s language, “minor seminarians.” They had been taught Spanish and a little Latin; they were taught how to read and write. They learned the catechism by heart (they learned it by singing it through!). Many of these Young Filipino Catechist suffered the same faith as Pedro Calungsod who will remain unnamed in history but will be forever etched in the book of Glory.

4. Francisca Fuentes (Francisca of the Holy Spirit)

Born in 1647 in Manila by her parents Simon de Fuentes and Ana Maria Tamayo del Castillo. In 1672 she married young but later widowed without children. As a widow she involved herself in works of charity to the sick (San Juan de Dios Hospital), and to the poor inviting sometimes some pious women to join her in these spiritual endeavors. On 1696, Francisca established the Beaterio de Santa Catalina de Sena without prior permission from the Archbishop and was soon excommunicated. On Febraury 15, 1706 Archbishop Camacho issued a decree granting Mother Francisca and the Beatas the normal privileges within the life of enclosure under the rule of the Third Order. On August 24, 1711 Mother Francisca del Espiritu Santo died between 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning and was buried in the afternoon in the Church of Colegio de San Juan de Letran over the steps of the Main Altar on the side of the Gospel. She was the foundress of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena here in the Philippines.

5. Martha de San Bernardo of Pampanga

During the time of Martha, native Filipino women were not admitted to enter the convents. It was exclusive for white skinned Spanish women. Thus entered Martha de San Bernardo. Martha was not an ordinary native woman. She belonged to a wealthy family in Pampanga, was a ladina (native who could speak Spanish) and had a charismatic personality. “She was so influential woman and so moral and virtuous,” wrote a Franciscan chronicler, “that all the (Spanish nuns in the) convent urgently requested that she be conferred the novitiate habit. But because it was not legal at that time to confer a habit to an Indio (Native), her sisters together with the head of the Franciscan Order conspired to sent her to Macau so that she can be conferred with the habit outside the Jurisdiction of the Spanish Colony. And so sometime in October or November 1633, somewhere in the South China Sea between Manila and Macao, Martha de San Bernardo of Pampanga became the first Filipino nun in history.

6. Maria Beatriz Del Rosario Arroyo (Maria Rosario of the Visitation)

Maria Beatriz Arroyo was born in Molo, Iloilo City on February 17, 1884 to wealthy and pious parents, Don Ignacio Arroyo and Doña Maria Pidal. She joined religious life in the Beaterio de Sta. Catalina in Manila and made her profession on January 3, 1914. She founded the â??Beaterio del Santisimo Rosarioâ?? in Molo, Iloilo City, Philippines. Mother Rosario accompanied by two Dominican Sisters from Santa Catalina was the pioneer of this foundation. During the First General Chapter of January 3 â?? 6, 1953 she was elected the First Superioress General of the Congregation. â??Madre Sayong is known for her love for the poor, her strong faith in God and her simplicity in life,â?? said Sister Tolentino. â??Despite her wealth, she became a nun and dedicated herself to the service of the poor.â?? Sister Tolentino shared that during World War II, a number of people had prodded Madre Sayong to disband the congregation because the Japanese were threatening to kill them. But Madre Sayong refused, saying God will protect them. Not a single sister was harmed by the Japanese during the war. Madre Sayong died in the odor of sanctity on June 14, 1957 and was interred at the Molo cemetery the following day after serving the congregation for 32 years.

7. Isabel Larranaga Ramirez (Isabel of the Heart of Jesus)

Isabel was not a full blooded Filipino but she was born in Manila (Philippines) on November 19, 1836 when the Philippines was still under Spanish rule. So technically, she is a Filipina by birth and virtue of citizenship. She was baptized in San Miguel de Arcangel in Malacanang 30 days after her birth. She was the daughter of Juan Andrés Ma. de Larrañaga (the Military Governor of Manila at that time) and Isabel Ramirez Patiño. On February 2, 1877, Isabel founded the Sisters of Charity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus which gives preference to the apostolate of the Christian education of children and youth. She died on January 17, 1899 in Havana Cuba and was later decreed as as a servant of God possessing heroic virtues by the Congregation for the Causes of saints on March 26, 1999.

8. Dionisia De Santa Maria Mitas Talangpaz and
9. Cecilia Rosa De Jesus Talangpaz

Dionisia Mitas Talangpaz de Santa Maria and her younger sister, Cecilia Rossa Talangpaz de Jesus of Calumpit, Bulacan were half-Kapampangans. The Talangpaz sisters gave up the good life to stay in a humble nipa hut in Bilibid Viejo praying continuously and doing penance and needlework. After six years the Augustinian Recollect friars in the convent of the San Sebastian church invested them with the religious habit and gave them a small house in the convent’s garden. Other native women began applying to join the Talangpaz sisters and soon the house was converted into the Beaterio de San Sebastian de Calumpang. Cecilia and Dionisia Talangpaz died in 1731 and 1732, respectively, but the beaterio endured, surviving the British Occupation (1752-64), the Revolution (1896-1898) and the Philippine-American War (1899-1902), as well as the earthquakes of 1863 and 1880 and the Second World War (1941-1945). Today the beaterio is known as the Congregation of the Augustinian Recollect Sisters, the oldest non-contemplative religious community for women in the Augustinian Recollect Order throughout the world. It is credited for the establishment of the Colegio de Sta. Rita in Manila in 1907. In 1999, the cause for the Talangpaz sisters’ beatification was formally started.

10. Ignacia Del Espiritu Santo

Mother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo was born in Manila, Philippines in 1663. She was the daughter of Jusepe Iuco, a Chinese immigrant from Amoy, China, and of Marà a Jerónima, a native Filipina. She refused her parents’ request to marry, instead Ignacia sought spiritual direction from a Jesuit. Her life of prayer and labor attracted Indias (natives) who also felt called to the religious life but could not be admitted into the existing congregation at that time. Mother Ignacia accepted these women into her company and the first community was born. They became known as the Beatas de la Compania de Jesus because they frequently received the sacraments at the Church of St.Ignatius. At the ripe age of 85, Ignacia died on her knees after receiving Holy Communion on September 10, 1748, and was interred at the Church of Saint Ignatius.

11. Alfredo Maria Obviar

Bishop Obviar was born on August 29, 1889 in Lipa, Batangas (Philippines). He was an Auxilliary Bishop of the Archdioces of Lipa and was the Chaplain of Lipa Carmel. Bishop Obviar was one of the key personalities on the secrets of the Lipa Apparition. It was thru him that Teresing (the visionary) and the Prioress sought their guidance. It was also said that Bishop Obviar, asking a sign from heaven if the apparition was true, experienced the shower of petals at his feet as he walked towards the Chapel. He was silenced the by the Papal Nuncio regarding this matter along with the other key personalities of the apparition like Archbishop Alfredo Versoza and was assigned to the Diocese of Lucena as the Bishop. There he founded the Missionary Cathechist of St. Therese in which was also one of the saints who accompanied the Virgin Mary during the Apparition. He died on October 1, 1978, the Feast of St. Therese of Liseux, the same saint in which he named after the congregation he founded. The body of Bishop Obviar lies on the Mother House of the Congregation in Tayabas Quezon and is doing a record breaking number of miracles thru his intercession.

12. Madalena de la Concepcion

Because she was a living saint during her time, Like Sor Martha de San Bernardo before her, Madalena de la Concepcion was a noblewoman from Pampanga but unlike Sor Martha, she was admitted to the monastery of the Poor Clares without a hitch. She received their habit on February 9, 1636 and professed the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience the following year. Sor Madalenaâ??s biographer wrote that as a nun, she persevered for 49 years in such an exemplary way and in the strict observance of the Rule; in all those years, no deficiency whatsoever was noted in her compliance with the policies of the convent, ever excelling with diligence in the performance of the most humble and difficult tasks in the community and always abhorring positions of honor. With this example of humility and regular observance, she persevered until her death on April 5, 1685.

13. Juan de Guerra

Because he was the second Filipino martyr, after Saint Lorenzo Ruiz, thirty-year-old Juan de Guerra, a Kapampangan seaman from Betis, was in the wrong place at the wrong time that day in Macao in 1640, when the Portuguese city sent an all-layman delegation to Japan to improve diplomatic relations. He was one of two Filipinos among the 70 crewmen accompanying four Macao diplomats; no friar was allowed on the trip to show the anti-Christian Japanese officials that they had no covert mission to evangelize. (Japan had recently outlawed Christianity in the empire, executing Japanese Christians as well as foreigners who had come to re-introduce the religion. One of those killed three years earlier was Lorenzo Ruiz of Manila.) As soon as the delegation reached Japan, they were thrown in jail on charges of conspiracy to propagate the outlawed religion. Sixty-one, including Juan de Guerra, were beheaded while 13 were sent back to Macao. It is the detailed eyewitness account of these 13 survivors that served as basis for a 1698 book on the martyrdom by Fray Joseph Sicardo of Madrid, and will serve as evidence in possible beatification and canonization of the martyrs in the future. News of Juan de Guerra's and his Filipino companionsâ martyrdom was greeted with great ecclesiastical celebration in Manila.

14. Nicolas de Figueroa

o celBecause he suffered a gruesome death one day ahead of Blessed Pedro Calungsod s martyrdom Nicolas de Figueroa of Bacolor was also one of the four Kapampangans in the mission to the Ladrones Islands in 1668. Like Pedro Calungsod and Andres de la Cruz, he was a boyish catechist who was eager to baptize the babies and children of the islanders. On April 1, 1672, while searching for a Mexican fellow missionary who turned out to have been murdered, Nicolas and three companions were ambushed by 20 ferocious islanders. Though outnumbered, Nicolasâ?? group put up a fight; Nicolas and his two surviving companions fled in separate directions; he ended up in a village where he was welcomed and then suddenly seized by an islander, dragged to the cliff and thrown off the edge. Below other islanders mercilessly attacked him with lances. The following morning, it was San Vitores and Calungsodâ??s turn to be executed. Later on the same day, one of the survivors in Nicolasâ?? group took refuge in the same village and suffered the same fate as Nicolas while the last companion lived to tell their story to a tribunal which conducted the first beatification inquiry in Guam in 1673. News of their deaths reached Manila on May 3, 1672; church bells rang all over and congregations sang Te Deum to celebrate their martyrdom

15. Hermana Fausta Labrador

She was a native of Tayabas, Quezon. Born on December 15, 1858 from a wealthy parents named Policarpio Labrador and Nemesia Zarzadias. She spent her life doing good in fulfillment of the Gospel of Christ. An ordinary lay person who lived in Lucena, she never joined a religious congregation nor did she get married. With the assistance of volunteers and relying solely on Godâ??s providence, she ran a school for 53 years and, approaching the age of 80, turned it over to the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity. The school is Sacred Heart College, one of the outstanding private schools in the Philippines. However, Hermana Fausta was not known as an educator but simply as a woman of great compassion for the poor and as a radiant example of a life of prayer and zeal for souls. She had an outstanding devotion to the Holy Eucharist, to the Mass and to the Holy Rosary. On September 13, 1942 Hermana Uta died at the age of nearly 84. Her Beatification proceedings for her cause are now undertaken by the Diocese of Lucena with the full support of the Daughters of Charity and Sacred Heart College.

Jesus Or The Boat?

“But the boat was already over a mile from land, battered by the waves, because the wind was against them.” Matthew 14:24

*** *** *** ***

Jesus needed time to refresh and so he sent his disciples on ahead, across the Sea of Galilee in one of their fishing boats. But storms sweep across this inland sea like tornados that emerge from nowhere.

And now the disciples were in a fight with the Goliath-like forces of nature. Some of the disciples were fishermen. They understood the danger, and so they fought the storm long and hard, but made little headway.

It was three o’clock in the morning, that no-man’s-land time of day when you haven’t yet escaped the night, but you still haven’t crossed into morning. It’s the kind of time when you wonder if you’ll even make it through until sunrise.

The Golan Heights , rising from the water like a wall within a quarry, are hard to distinguish against a sky so dark and drench. They’re over a mile from shore, and the water is transforming into an evil presence, so deep and so menacing.

And just then, someone on the boat yells, “Look! What is that? It looks like a man, but it just can’t be.” Before he’s even finished saying them, his words disappear into the wailing wind. But no one has to say anything else. All eyes are on this ghostly figure walking toward them like an incarnation of the storm!

And then Jesus says, “It is I.”

What does this mean?

· Jesus or the boat? – When faced with such a situation, where is the safest place to be? In the boat or in the arms of Jesus?

· Jesus peace – Logic tells us we’re safer in the boat; but the Bible tells us we’re safer in the arms of Jesus, the Lord and Master over the storm. He offers a peace that passes all understanding.

A Risky Obedience

“Risk your life and get more than you ever dreamed of….” (Luke 19:26 MSG)

In order to obey God, you need to take risks.

Risk is the substance of faith because it requires you to take Step 1 before you see Step 2. Risk compels you to action, even when there seems to be no guarantee of what will be on the other side of your choice.

But it’s those risks, large and small, that God uses to stretch you from living by sight into living by faith. By taking the risk of following God, you move from a life of independence and self-direction into a life of godly dependence and Holy Spirit direction.

The irony, as we struggle with the risks associated with faith, is that we take a greater risk by remaining independent of God than we do when we take a step of faith that seems to be risky.

If we believe what we say we believe, then, regardless of what we see on the other side of our risk, the reality is God is there. What seems to be a no-guarantee situation actually comes with the greatest guarantee of all – a God-guarantee – that he is on the other side of our choices, working all things out for the good (Romans 8:28), with plans to help us and not to hurt us (Jeremiah 29:11).

· With a God-guarantee, you can enter into a risky obedience as you do things that are impossible unless God gives you his strength to do them.

· With a God-guarantee, you can enter into a risky obedience as you love other believers so deeply and so richly that you prove to the world a disciple of Christ is a reflection of God’s great love.

· With a God-guarantee, you can stretch to love your neighbors as you love yourself.

· With a God-guarantee, you can enter into a risky obedience as you change your priorities to match the priorities of Jesus.

· With a God-guarantee, you can stretch to love your neighbors, knowing they live throughout all nations where you’re to go and baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded believers to do.

What does this mean?

· Safe outside the boat –I have a drawing of Jesus walking on the water during a storm; the disciples are cowered in a fishing boat. I look at it and ask, “Where is the safest place to be?” The obvious answer seems to be “the boat.” But the truth is, the safest place in that storm is standing next to Jesus. We only think the boat is safer.

· Safest steps – Work toward seeing faith steps as the safest steps you can take. What seems like a risk is actually a step supported by the one, true, all-powerful, all-knowing, awesome God, who is wiser than the best of man’s wisdom and stronger than the best of man’s strength.

· Live faithfully – As Rick Warren says in The Purpose Driven Life, if what you are doing doesn’t require faith, then you are living faithlessly. Ask God to reveal where you are living without faith, and trust him to gently guide you toward the place of risky obedience.

Seeking and Finding His Heart of Love

We are commanded to: "Love the Lord Thy God, with thy whole mind, thy whole heart and thy whole soul…"

Notice the use of the word "whole" in each command! This means that, to truly love Him, our entire lives are to be, day by single day, a continuing Act of Love, for Him, in which we offer every action, every care, all our joys and sufferings and good works for the intentions of His Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, the conversion of sinners, and the release of the souls in Purgatory.

This is what He means by our whole mind, whole heart and whole soul! Love beyond ordinary human love: "Love me more-oh, much more!-than human beings love one another." Why does He ask this? Because, as He says, "A love that does not exaggerate is not love; it is affection." And our greatest effort cannot even approach the suffering of His Sacrifice.

Two more reasons He wishes to be loved: "I desire to be loved; I crave the love of my creatures! When they will come to love Me, they will no longer offend Me. When two people really love each other, they never offend each other."

"Nothing is wanting in my heavenly beatitude, which is infinite, but I yearn for souls….I thirst for them, and want to save them."

There is an old saying applied to good people: "To know him is to love him." How true this is in Our Lord's case! Yet, hear now Our Lord's complaint and yearning:

"Ah! If only they [souls] knew my Heart….mankind is ignorant of Its mercy and goodness; that is my greatest sorrow."

Again: [Mary:] "O! If only souls knew Him better, they would love Him so much more."

The best way to learn to know Him is by offering Him acts of love and through fervent, unceasing prayer expressing the desire to truly know Him so that we may love Him better. "Your actions will have more value in proportion as you increase in love."

We then wait as He grants us the graces to come closer to His Heart. Over time this may produce the fruit we desire. HE wants this communication as much as we desire it:: "Ah, if souls only understood how ardently I desire to communicate Myself to them! But how few do understand….and how deeply this wounds My Heart."

"They [souls] have not understood My Heart. For it is their very destitution and failings that incline My goodness toward them. And when acknowledging their helplessness and weakness, they humble themselves and have recourse to Me trustfully, then indeed they give me more glory than before their fault."

If we can learn to love Him more than a wife, husband , children, brothers, sisters, grandparents, we will approach total unity with His Sacred Heart. Who among us loves Him to that degree now?

We are not to be discouraged, however, if we do not achieve all we wish in desiring and loving Him. He only expects us to do the best we can. As He has said to another holy nun, another victim soul of the 20th century, Sister Josefa Menendez: “I want souls so much to understand this! It is not the action in itself that is of value; it is the intention with which it is done.”

He will supply whatever is lacking from His bountiful, loving Heart and thus perfect our desire and love for Him. Begin today to desire Him with your whole heart. May He grant you the grace to find Him and love Him as He wishes to be loved.

“To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances; to seek Him, the greatest adventure; to find Him, the greatest human achievement.”